Exploring Emotional Intelligence in Workplace- A study of Gender Differences in Indian Insurance Sector

Abstract

This research paper is an attempt to explore the lnterco relation between different factors of emotional intelligence and to compare the level of emotional intelligence of male and female middle level managers of Indian insurance companies, through different dimensions of EI The data was collected from 300 middle level managers from Indian insurance companies using standardized scale i. e. Bhattacharya Instrument on Emotional Intelligence (BEIS- In). This scale comprises of five factors of emotional intelligence i.e. Appraisal of negative emotions, Appraisal of positive emotions, Interpersonal conflict and difficulty, Interpersonal skill and flexibility and E:notionalfacilitation and goal orientation. Total of 8 insurance companies (4 public and 4 private insurance companies) from Haryana and Delhi were targeted. The results revealed that all the factors of emotional intelligence were significantly correlated with each other except interpersonal conflict management (E/3) is not correlated with interpersonal skills and flexibility (E/4) and emotional facilitation and goal orientation (El5). The female respondents are better in emotional facilitation and goal orientation and male respondents got better scores on appraisal of positive emotions. But overall, there is no significant difference found between the scores of male and female respondents.